Oda Officially Reveals The Inheritor Of Rocks D. Xebec's Power

This article contains spoilers from One Piece’s Elbaf arc.

One Piece fans weren’t all too shocked to know that Rocks D. Xebec still has a big role to play in the story through his bloodline, and that it is Blackbeard who carries his will today. The Elbaf arc of the story has been absolutely incredible for Rocks in every way.

No fan of the story expected so much light to be shed upon this forgotten legend of the old era, but it seems that Oda has finally decided to give the readers what they truly want. At the same time, Oda has also clearly set up characters in the present timeline who are, simply put, carrying out the will of Rocks, and while Blackbeard is his son, the strength of Rocks has been inherited by someone else entirely.

Blackbeard Was Confirmed As Rocks’s Son

Loki’s Flashback Confirms Blackbeard’s Lineage
Blackbeard Aims To Complete Rocks’s Dream

One Piece’s Elbaf arc was always going to be incredibly interesting for the fans. After all, this arc was going to focus on the Giants, who have deep connections to the Sun God Nika, and are the closest relatives to those in the Void Century. Elbaf was always going to be packed with incredible details and that’s what Oda delivered.

Listen, Harald! Two years ago, through fate or something else, I had a son. I had them sent to my home country. My home is God Valley. — Rocks D. Xebec

That said, no fan of the story expected Oda to elaborate upon the legend of Rocks D. Xebec here. Oda finally gave fans a very detailed Rocks flashback, and if that wasn’t enough, his lineage was also confirmed. It was revealed that Rocks D. Xebec is the man who fathered Marshall D. Teach, the current-day Blackbeard.

As fans know, Teach is a monster and in many ways, he is similar to his father. That said, their personalities are completely opposite. Rocks was more honorable than Teach and valued his friends, and all he wanted was to topple the world at sit at the very top. Teach shares his goals of being the King of the World, and he even sits at the Pirate Island, just like Rocks, but their personalities are very different. More than that, their combat abilities are extremely different, and if truth be told, Teach didn’t inherit any of his father’s fighting style.

Shanks Has Inherited The Power Of Rocks D. Xebec

Roger Learned From Rocks, And Shanks Learned From Roger

Much to the surprise of the fans, the man who has inherited Rocks’s fighting style and combat prowess is none other than Red Haired Shanks. This is ironic, given that Shanks and Blackbeard are rivals and the former had absolutely nothing to do with Rocks. But, the connection lies in the way they fight with their blades.

I won’t say that’s not fair, Navy man. But raiding the worn-out new green leaves that changed the era of piracy forever? Don’t you think you’re doing too much? Are you that afraid of the new era? – Shanks

The Rocks flashback made it very clear that Rocks D. Xebec had a very special fighting style. While he used his sword, it didn’t really cut his enemies. Instead, Rocks’s sword was famous for absolutely blowing everything around him to smithereens. It was almost as if the enemies were hit by a giant hammer or cannon fire.

Curiously enough, Roger ended up inheriting this technique from Rocks, and he made it his style. Eventually, Shanks observed Roger in combat and learned this power from him, and right now, this is Shanks’s go-to fighting style.

Shanks Is The Strongest Pirate In The World Right Now

the-child-of-destiny — Shanks from One Piece

In the world of One Piece right now, Shanks is, undoubtedly, the strongest pirate alive, but there are others hovering around him, such as Teach, the son of Rocks, and of course, Luffy as well.

One Piece Chapter 1161 will be out this week. As usual, One Piece is going to drop on Sunday. In Japan, One Piece drops at 12AM JST on Monday. However, the vast majority of international readers will see the chapter available on September 28. The official release date of One Piece Chapter 1161 is September 28, 2025. Fans can read the chapter for free on Manga Plus.

Release Date: October 20, 1999
Network: Fuji TV
Directors: Hiroaki Miyamoto, Konosuke Uda, Junji Shimizu, Satoshi Itō, Munehisa Sakai, Katsumi Tokoro, Yutaka Nakajima, Yoshihiro Ueda, Kenichi Takeshita, Yoko Ikeda, Ryota Nakamura, Hiroyuki Kakudou, Takahiro Imamura, Toshihiro Maeya, Yûji Endô, Nozomu Shishido, Hidehiko Kadota, Sumio Watanabe, Harume Kosaka, Yasuhiro Tanabe, Yukihiko Nakao, Keisuke Onishi, Junichi Fujise, Hiroyuki Satou
Writers: Jin Tanaka, Akiko Inoue, Junki Takegami, Shinzo Fujita, Shouji Yonemura, Yoshiyuki Suga, Atsuhiro Tomioka, Hirohiko Uesaka, Michiru Shimada, Isao Murayama, Takuya Masumoto, Yoichi Takahashi, Momoka Toyoda